Aerobic Table Tennis in the great white north

Steve Rowe, the founder of the fitness programme called “Aerobic Table Tennis” recently visited The North West Territories in Canada. Supported by Butterfly, he wanted to show some impressions of this incredible global programme – and found a lot of smiling faces in the great white north..

Even the freezing temperatures would not spoil what turned out to be a great experience.

Yellowknife, Fort Providence and Hay River were the areas that got to experience Aerobic Table Tennis. The visit was made possible by Table Tennis North and The Mackenzie Recreational Association.

Steve commented, “I was contacted by Thorsten Gohl from Table Tennis North. Thor had seen my work in other countries and was very keen to take me to Canada ”

Also giving full support was Table Tennis Canada. Tony Kiesenhofer, the Chief Executive Officer of Table Tennis Canada.

“Table Tennis Canada fully supports the Aerobic Table Tennis programme”, he said. “As an association we are happy to endorse a programme that aims to help children keep fit and also introduces them to our great sport of table tennis.”

The Mackenzie Recreation Association:

“The Mackenzie Recreation Association is extremely excited to be a part of bringing Aerobic Table Tennis to the North West Territories”

explained Roslyn Firth, the President of the Mackenzie R.

4 schools took part

Weledeh School Yellowknife, Deh Gha Elementary School Fort Providence, Ecole Boreale School Hay River and Chief Sunrise School Hay River.
Weledeh School was first to take part and it could not have gone any better. The teachers and children loved Aerobic Table Tennis.

It was such a great success that we even managed to get almost every child in the school taking part at the same time, over 250 kids doing Aerobic TT. An amazing sight to see.

Next on the list was Chief Sunrise School and Borale School Hay River. Hay River is a very remote part of NWT, so using Aerobic TT to help kids take part in a physical activity was very much appreciated by the teachers.
Principle Christina Steen at Chief Sunrise School in Hay River said “The kids had a blast!”

The final school was Deh Gah Elementary School Fort Providence. Once again Fort Providence is a remote area and the kids sometimes do not choose to take part in physical activities. Some concern that perhaps the kids would not take part in the sessions.

However, the exact opposite happened

Steve said ” it was a slow start as the kids did not know what to expect. As soon as the kids could see how much fun the sessions are everything changed. I was amazed with the response from the kids, big smiles all round ” The kids at Deh Gah Elementary really embraced Aerobic TT.

An Aerobic TT instructor course was also delivered at the school, 7 teachers and volunteers were trained in how to deliver Aerobic TT sessions.
The course was organised by Thorsten Gohl.

Thorsten said, ” the course differed from the other sessions. The biggest component of that was focusing on the correct table tennis techniques because it should lead up to playing table tennis. Instructors need to know the correct techniques as the kids will imitate what the instructor does”

Also taking place at Deh Gah Elementary was the very first North West Territories TT Championships. The kids had a fantastic time taking part in the competition.

Butterfly was a key name at the competition with the kids being introduced to the brand by way of promotional items provided by Butterfly North America.

Since Aerobic Table Tennis was founded in 2011, the programme has gone from strength to strength. Who would have thought that a table tennis fitness programme founded in the small town of Wigan would become so well known around the world ? Not only that, but would be introduced in such a remote place like The North West Territories.

When asked if Steve will revisit Canada Gohl had one word to say “absolutely”

The North West Territories is the home of the famous Northern Lights, what a great way to finish the trip, as Steve got to see the Aurora.

Steve said ” my visit had already been an amazing experience but to be able to see The Northern Lights was a dream come true.

As always, Steve would like to thank Butterfly for their continued support.

About The Author

Sebastian launched his table tennis “career” at age 11 and made it to the 5. German league. Yet he is also active in professional table tennis: As TV Commentator for the ITTF, he has traveled to many exciting tournaments all over the world, commenting live on the top games. He became part of Team-Butterfly in 2014, working in Sales and Marketing as translator and copy-editor.